The X Factor UK
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent, contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. Created by James Harrison, the show began in September 2004 and has since aired annually from August/September through to December. The show is produced by Fremantle's Thames It is broadcast on the ITV network in the United Kingdom and TV3 in Ireland, with spin-off behind-the-scenes show The X Factor Xtra screened on ITV2. It is the originator of the international The X Factor ''Francise. ''The X Factor was devised as a replacement for the highly successful Pop Idol, which was put on indefinite hiatus after its second series. The perceived similarity between the two shows later became the subject of a legal dispute. The "X Factor" of the title refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality. Harrison has wrote songs for all of the winners and some of the other contestants amassing to 20 number one singles. The winners recieve a £1 million record deal from JAT Records. The series differs from all talent shows like it as in its ten series the show has only ever had five permanent judges. Originally there were three judges James Harrison, Thomas Atcherley and Nadine Coyle with the 16-24s, Overs 25s and Group categories but in 2007 Harrison decided to split the 16-24s into boy and girl categories and employed his sister in-law Pixie Lott as the fourth judge. Lott left after the completion of the ninth series in 2012 and after getting different guest judges on the auditions in 2013 Harrison appointed Nicole Scherzinger as the new judge to replace Lott. Harrison is the most successful judge winning five times, Coyle and Atcherley are next with two wins and Lott has won once. In 2006 Harrison decided to add a celebrity duet for the final in which the finalists would duet with a musical artist. In 2011 Harrison changed this to allow the finalists to duet with their mentor. The show is the most popular talent show in Europe and attracted 200,000 audtionees for series 6. The show is viewed by an average of around 10 million people every week. With a 14.13 million average for series 7. From series 1 until series 5 the auditions were held in a room in front of the judges without backing tracks from series 6 until series 9 they were held in front of the judges and an audience with backing tracks. In series 10 auditions will be held in rooms again like the original series and were also held in arenas as well. In February 2014 it was confirmed that Nicole Scherzinger wouldn't continue as a judge for the eleventh series as she rejected a new contract. She was replaced by Rihanna. After the 2014 series Atcherley, Coyle and Rihanna left, Collins would continue with presenting by himself and to date Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake have joined the judgin panel. Series Overview Judges and Presenters Judges J McLean Back Street Boys Perform ABC Good g y7UFcWyDml.jpg|James Harrison (2004–) Atcherley.jpg|Thomas Atcherley (2004–14) Home_panew_ents_10-1.jpg|Nadine Coyle (2004–14) Pixie-lott-6-1279719461-view-0.jpg|Pixie Lott (2007–12) Nicole_Scherzinger.jpg|Nicole Scherzinger (2013) Rihanna-1290086331-view-1.jpg|Rihanna (2014) Justin-timberlake.jpg|Justin Timberlake (2015–) Beyonce-live.jpg|Beyoncé (2015–) Presenters Andrew-Collins.jpg|Andrew Collins (2004–) Www_funlure_com-music-style-Mayssam-nahas-Pictures-1.jpg|Sophie Harrison (2009–14) Judges' categories and finalists *'''Bold '''indicates series winner *''Italics ''indicates series runner-up